News / Bristol City Centre
Commemorating Bristol’s little-known radical woman
The life of free-thinker, campaigner and author Emma Martin has been commemorated with a new blue plaque.
Martin was born in Bristol in 1812, moving to Clifton when she was 16 and became an advocate for ‘free-thinking’, women’s rights, socialism and challenging the religious status quo of the time.
She worked as a ‘social missionary’ for Robert Owen’s movement, opposed the role of the church and later trained as a midwife and championed childbirth issues.
Despite her far-reaching work, Bristol Humanists said the key historic figure was little-known and deserved to celebrated today.
Unveiling the sapphire sign on Thursday afternoon was lord mayor Paula O’Rourke and professor Alice Roberts, broadcaster, physical anthropologist and anatomist.
Roberts, who grew up in Westbury-on-Trym, said she was “delighted” to celebrate Martin, whom she called “one of so many important campaigning radical women” in her home city.
“At a time when women were supposed to leave politics to men, they spoke, wrote, marched, organised, asked questions, challenged power structures, sometimes went to prison and even died,” the presenter of Digging for Britain and Coast said.
“History has not usually been kind to them, but now Emma Martin can take centre stage and in doing so brings different voices to the more familiar accounts of the period.”
Bristol Civic Society’s blue plaques commemorate individuals who lived or worked at a specific location
Chrissie Hackett, chair of Bristol Humanists, said: “Bristol Humanists are delighted to be celebrating the life of Emma Martin, one of our heroines!
“As a free-thinker, public speaker, socialist and advocate of women’s rights, she fearlessly challenged the religious status quo, paving the way for all of us to enjoy the freedoms that we now take for granted.
“This blue plaque ensures that she is finally recognised in her home city and can continue to inspire us today.”
Martin died in 1851 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery, London. The blue plaque now adorns YMCA‘s building on Bridewell Street, where her home at Bridewell Bridge used to lie.
All photos & video: Betty Woolerton
Read next:
- An eclectic array of adverts for Bristol businesses from 1947
- Blue plaques appear around Bristol
- Is there any truth to Bristol’s infamous urban legends?
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